A Sydney adland planner getting acquainted with New York. Determined to find time to crap on about all the important stuff... well, kinda.

01/19/2012

I've been wildly distracted by the shiny new promise of the Tumblr's, Posterouses, Pinterests, Memonics of the world which have sent my thoughts in a multitude of totally random and incoherent directions.

As things get busier and I endevour to FINALLY follow through on a number of personal projects you can find my (useless) ramblings in a prettier package @ http://pinterest.com/katrina_w/

12/05/2011

I attended a MTV Youth talk a few weeks back at which a panel of early twenty-somethings classed me as a 'geriatric gen y'. How observant. So it's no suprise that with my recent move overseas and hundreds of emails, messages, mms's later... that I've found myself lamenting the days of the old letterbox. Not the one you would eagerly await postcards by, but the one in which you would store highlighter-hued handwritten notes secretly slid between school tables... as rich and liberating as our social media lives are, how are we ever to rediscover, relive, or re-share those page-scrolling moments with others, let alone in a single, easy to access place?

08/01/2011

The very talented, very generous Katarina Urban (fellow Aussie in New York) has put together Newbies New York; a share and inform site packed with all the info you'll need when moving to NYC. It's genius. And outlines all the things I wish I had known when I moved over a couple of months ago.

07/31/2011

There's something very refreshing and quite liberating about a good ol' documentary and HBO's Brave New Voices is no exception to the rule. It follows the journey of some seriously talented youth, for whom poetry is their means to voice all the important stuff in the world.

I'm particularly taken aback by their bravery, to get on stage and bare all. And when you hear some of these stories, you'll likely redefine what it means to bare all. When a dancer on stage, there's a costume, a character, a tune for you to hide behind. As an actor, a script. And as a pianist, a score. Sure, you're revealing a part of yourself whilst doing so, but these guys are truly baring their souls (perhaps performing your own written song or script or choregraphed dance would be more comparable). In any case, it's intimate, revealing and slap-you-in-the-face confronting.

02/20/2011

Chef Fergus Henderson and business partner Trevor Gulliver invite you to stay at the opulent St. John Hotel.

And what better way to emulate the entire experience than in the short film below? Not just a new menu, photoshopped decor or imagery of the getty-like guests that may pass through, but instead the simple use of stop motion leaving a hell of a lot to each and everyone's imagination... lovely.

02/15/2011

There is a lot to be said for actually pausing and acknowledging new and otherwise fleeting thoughts and observations you make every day. There's a wealth of literature à la Buddhist and Anthony Robbins-style that endorse the benefits of noting them down. A sense of perspective, happiness, positivity, personal growth and a better connection to and grounding of oneself to name a few...

Social media has certianly had a role in inadvertently encouraging us to do so when we're not just posting of our whereabouts or meanderings.

Writer Giles Turnbull managed to do so for a whole year. Which should technically make him a very, very happy person (his last post is evidence of this, and particularly lovely).

02/08/2011

I love food. In the kind of way that I'll be thinking about dinner (or a second lunch) while I'm eating (my first) lunch.

Jonathon Soma has done some brilliant work in the way of data and building collaborative platforms. Two of my favourite are his food-based inventions.

They're great examples of the way technology is facilitating self-empowered learning and giving people the inspiration and the guts to experiment more often.

1. Ice Cream Club. A bunch of passionate friends who meet every month to trade homemade, experimental ice-cream flavours, providing tips, inspiration and even membership and classes to those who want to learn... or just dig in.

2. Cooking Class In a Box. Hard-to-find ingredients shouldn't stop you from trying new things when it comes to cooking. The idea is to build you a cooking class based on an exotic cuisine (Thai, Indian, Korean, Ethiopian, etc) and ship you the ingredients, recipe in tail. Lovely.

01/24/2011

01/14/2011

The Good Gym encourages those already going for a run, to simultaneously run errands for those isolated and immobile in their neighbourhood. Whether it be for groceries, goods and/or just a pause for a friendly chat, it both motivates the runner and offers a helping hand for those who need it. Just brilliant.

09/24/2010

08/12/2010

Can't wait to see this documentary called 'Happy' on just that... a search for what really makes people happy in a world which director Roko Belic rightly describes as "screwed up in many, many ways". Belic combines interviews with leading scientists in happiness research and real life stories of people around the world from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata.

Would love to see the brief or the path the agency took to get to this idea. You can imagine how an 'insight' like "one single moment/every second of the game can decide the future" could have been easily dismissed as glaringly obvious and generic. Proof that an insight need not be shiny and new nor necessarily profound to be powerful.

I won't go on about how brilliant it is.

But Gareth Kay has some interesting points about the campaign that aren't being talked about.

05/26/2010

Play or listen to someone play one of 30 pianos (complete with a location-inspired songbook) scattered around various cities (NYC, London, Sydney...) as part of a traveling art tour. Luke Jerram, the artist behind the project, has designed it as a catalyst for strangers who regularly occupy the same space, to talk and connect with one another.